All police forces will be asked to check staff against national police databases for misogyny and predatory behaviour, it has been announced.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said that this would help identify anyone who has “slipped through the net” before vetting standards are toughened after David Carrick, a serving Metropolitan Police officer, admitted to dozens of rapes and sexual offences.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions today (18 January), prime minister Rishi Sunak called Carrick’s crimes “truly sickening” and said reforms to vetting procedures would ensure predators would not gain access to police forces.
Sunak said: “The police must address the failings in this case, restore public confidence and ensure the safety of women and girls.
“There will be no place to hide for those who use their position to intimidate those women and girls, or those who have failed to act to reprimand or remove those people from office.”
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Home secretary Suella Braverman has asked the College of Policing to strengthen its Code of Practice for police vetting to make forces’ obligations clearer.
She said: “David Carrick’s sickening crimes are a stain on the police and he should never have been allowed to remain as an officer for so long.
“We are taking immediate steps to ensure predatory individuals are not only rooted out of the force, but that vetting and standards are strengthened to ensure they cannot join the police in the first place.”
The Metropolitan Police this week admitted it should have spotted a pattern of abusive behaviour after Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 offences, and has set up a dedicated investigation team to review every past claim of domestic or sexual abuse by officers or staff.
NPCC chair Martin Hewitt said: “The confidence of women and girls in London and across the country in the police has been damaged further by the details of David Carrick’s decades-long violent and degrading abuse of women and the police failures to spot and stop him. Chief constables are rooting out abusers and those who betray our standards out of policing.
“We will be asking all police forces to further check their officers and staff against national police databases. This will help identify anyone who has slipped through the net before vetting standards were toughened and remove those who are unfit to serve.”
The Council said it would provide more detail on timescales and how the reviews were expected to be achieved in due course.
In October, the Home Office launched a review of the police disciplinary system based on the recommendations of Baroness Casey’s interim report on culture and standards in the Metropolitan Police.
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